Clients & Cases
Chemical Loader Seriously Hurt By Unsafe Loading Platform
While checking chemicals loading into a tanker truck parked underneath an elevated loading platform, a panel shifted causing the worker to fall and hit his back on the truck crash box. An ambulance arrived at the plant, took the worker to the emergency room, and he was admitted to the hospital. Kleinpeter & Schwartzberg investigated the fall, hired safety and engineering experts, and showed the loading platform was unsafe and had a design defect. A jury heard the case, decided in the chemical worker’s favor, and found the product manufacturer owed the chemical worker damages for his past lost wages, loss of earning capacity, loss of enjoyment of life, and pain and suffering. The case settled after the product manufacturer appealed. Kleinpeter & Schwartzberg prosecuted a separate successful appeal during the case which clarified Louisiana worker’s compensation law. Ernest v. Petroleum Service Corporation and Carbis, Inc., 868 So.2d 96, 2002-2482 (La.App. 1 Cir. 11/19/03).
Sandblaster Permanently Harmed From Breathing Bad Compressor Air
A painting company, contracted to perform work for a chemical plant, regularly exposed its workers to a variety of chemicals. Painters and sandblasters had to use equipment for sandblasting requiring an air compressor which needed a certain type of filter. The painting company refused to provide its worker with the air filter which caused him to suffer permanent brain damage and nerve damage in his limbs. Kleinpeter & Schwartzberg investigated the company and its practices and filed a suit for the worker and his family based on the painting company’s intentional choice not to provide the worker proper safety equipment. After trial the court found in favor of the worker and against the painting company, compensating the sandblaster for past wages, future wages, loss of enjoyment of life, as well as mental and physical pain and suffering. A worker’s compensation case was also successfully prosecuted for the worker as well. LeBlanc v. Cajun Painting Inc., 654 So.2d, 94 1609 (La.App. 1 Cir. 4/7/95).
Finding Insurance For Wrongful Death
After a day of tubing on a river in Mississippi with his friends, a teenager crashed his truck into a vehicle carrying a husband and wife returning home after visiting the hospital where their first grandchild was born. The wreck caused the death of the wife as the result of her being thrown from the vehicle, and seriously injured the husband. The teenager fled the scene but police arrested him a few days later in Louisiana. A Mississippi attorney contacted Kleinpeter & Schwartzberg for help in finding out what happened and identifying responsible parties. The firm conducted substantial discovery and found a policy of insurance on the truck and another policy covering the driver of the truck’s insurance company. The insurance company denied coverage. After trial, the court found coverage and ordered that the insurance company be liable for the harmful acts caused by the driver. McGehee v. Benton, 2007 WL 2685582 (La.App. 1 Cir. 2007), writ denied 969 So.2d 638, 2007-2020 (La. 12/7/07).
Cattle Trailer Rolls Over Ramp And Landed On Interstate Below
A cattle trailer, hauling a load of cattle, entered a sharply curving ramp on the interstate, just before the Mississippi River Bridge, rolling over the ramp and landing on the highway below resulting in massive injuries and the subsequent death of the passenger sleeping in the trailer’s cab. The passenger’s children, who lived in Arizona, contacted their attorney who called Kleinpeter & Schwartzberg for help. Action was brought against the DOTD because of defective highway design and inadequate warning signs at the site of the accident. After a jury trial, verdict was rendered in favor of the passenger’s children and wife for the wrongful death of the passenger and the pain and suffering he experienced before dying. The jury’s verdict for compensation was the highest amount ever in Louisiana for a survival action involving an acute injury. Wingfield, et al. v. State of Louisiana, et al., 835 So.2d 785, 2001-2668 (La.App. 1 Cir. 11/8/02), writ denied, 845 So.2d 1059, 2003-0313 (La. 5/30/03).
Left Turning Truck Seriously Injures Motorcyclist
A motorcyclist on his way to celebrate his daughter’s seventeenth birthday by watching her start as a pitcher for her high school softball game, was riding down the highway when an SUV suddenly pulled in front of him. The motorcyclist was unable to stop in time and skidded into the SUV. He was taken to the emergency room and evaluated with acute injuries to his knees and shoulders. These injuries later resulted in multiple surgeries to both knees and both shoulders and he will need total knee replacement surgeries on both knees. Kleinpeter & Schwartzberg successfully mediated the case compensating the motorcyclist with past and future earnings loss, past and future medical costs, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.
Insurance Company Delay Results In Substantial Payment
A young driver with a minimum liability insurance policy crossed the center line and struck Kleinpeter & Schwartzberg’s client head on. The young driver was at fault and went to jail. The firm made sure the client, who had no personal health insurance, got the medical treatment he needed. The liability insurer delayed and refused to pay the policy limit. By the time the insurer finally offered to pay what it owed, Kleinpeter & Schwartzberg recommended to their client that he go to trial. He won a judgment for full compensation. The attorneys then argued that the insurance company failed in its duty to properly settle for the policy limit and was therefore liable for the entire court judgment. After a fight in federal court, the insurance company settled in mediation for a substantial recovery. The firm had previously made law in this area in favor of consumers and victims. Maryland Casualty Company, et al. v. Dixie Insurance Company, 622 So.2d 698, writ denied, 629 So.2d 1138.
Toxic Exposure Permanently Disables Tankerman
For fourteen months, a Hollywood Marine tankerman worked at Shell’s Norco, LA dock supervising other tankermens’ loading of hundreds of tons of liquid benzene concentrate on barges. The tankerman began to experience flu-like symptoms, headaches, dizziness, chills, and nausea a few months before the job concluded. He contacted attorneys who referred him to Kleinpeter & Schwartzberg. Suit was filed against Shell and other parties and over several years litigation took place, a trial occurred, and Shell was found totally at fault for the tankerman’s injuries. The court of appeal allowed all of the damages awarded as compensation to the tankerman for past medical expenses, future medical expenses, past lost wages, future lost wages, general damages, and medical expenses. The compensation for the tankerman’s injuries, which include brain damage, replaces the wages he would have made over his lifetime, granted money damages for his pain and suffering, and allows him to live his life with dignity and financial security. Manuel v. Shell, 664 So.2d 470, 94-590 (La. 5 Cir. 10/18/95).
Helping Safeguard A Disabled Child
A 9-year-old boy with spina bifida was supposed to be transported to and from his local public school in a specially equipped school bus. On three different occasions, the child fell out of his inadequate seat restraint and was bruised and injured. The local School Board claimed it was doing all it could. Kleinpeter & Schwartzberg attorneys filed an emergency proceeding to require that the school meet its duty to provide safe transportation for this child. Just before the hearing, the School Board agreed to add safety equipment and provide a special aide to help ensure the boy’s safety.
